Virginia man Suspected of Plotting Attack on Capitol

The FBI arrested a man on Friday who is suspected of planning a suicide attack against the U.S. Capitol. The man who was identified as Amine El Khalifi, age twenty-nine, is a Moroccan national who lives in Alexandria, Virginia. He has been the target of a long FBI undercover investigation. They also stressed that the public had never been in any danger.

On Friday he was charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction against the United States by criminal complaint. If he is convicted he could get a maximum sentence of life in prison. According to the criminal complaint, he met with other people at his home and made remarks to the group that they needed to be ready for war. During the following month he made many trips to do observation and surveillance on the U.S. Capitol. He was choosing the time for the attack, figuring out how to avoid the law enforcement, and how he could get into the building.

On Friday he allegedly drove to a parking garage by the U.S. Capitol, wearing a suicide bomber vest and bringing with him a MAC-10 automatic weapon. It was reported that both were given to him by the FBI undercover agents that were acting as accomplices in the operation. Both the vest and weapon were non-functional but he was unaware of this. He left his car and headed toward the Capitol building where he was planning to blow up the Capitol building and shoot people but he was stopped before he left the parking garage.